In this article AJR will discuss Why Should I Keep My Website Updated
Its a shame fact that there are a lot of websites online that seemingly run with a ‘design and forget’ strategy – that is when a client’s website is completed and set live on the world wide web, they will leave the website for years without changing any of the content. 10-15 years ago this would have been the norm back in the day of the static websites and blogs were not as popular or relevant to your SEO (Search Engine Optimisation) and ranking, back then the main purpose of a website was to simply copy content over from a brochure or catalogue. This worked fine back then, but not anymore. This is where the term brochure website came from or related to.
In today’s world, rather than simply being an extension of a business, a website is often an essential element of a company for selling or marketing – especially with the many online-only business that exist now, they are entirely dependent on their online presence. A poor website means poor conversions. Therefore, it’s essential that your website is kept up to date to remain relevant in today’s fast paced World Wide Web.
Here are three key reasons as to why you need to be updating your website consistently:
Search Engine Optimisation (SEO)
We talk about SEO a lot – it’s a vital part to getting your website noticed. If no one can find you via the search engines, you definitely won’t be making many sales. This could prove to be disastrous for your business, especially for online-only companies.
While there are many complicated and convoluted methods for trying to rank higher in search engines, the single most effective way to increase the ‘value’ of your website is also the easiest – update your content! Search engines will track the frequency of updates to your web pages. A regularly updated website will be seen as a source of fresh information and rise up the rankings as a result.
Give users a good impression and a reason to visit your site again
If the search engines’ algorithms think your website is out of date, then what about your real visitors?
A website with no new content can leave a bad impression about your business to a visitor. If someone was to visit your site several times of a couple of months and there is no new content, think about the impression that they could be left with. Has your business changed or grown in any way? Maybe you aren’t innovating or getting any custom at all through your website. This thinking can lead to the suggestion that maybe your services or products aren’t any good, or maybe there’s a problem with you company? How reliable is the information on the site if it has never been updated?
All it can take to show that you’re still there and active is a small news update every once in a while showing that your business is moving forward. This will go a long way to showing a visitor that your website is up to date and reliable. It can also increase the chance of new custom as that recent post about a “fantastic new product or service” will entice people to buy from you. It’s also a reason for people to re-visit your site. Maybe there’s a new offer or fresh and interesting information for them to read?
Statistics and Tracking
Finally, a very powerful tool that is often overlooked is the ability to make decisions based upon data retrieved from your website. If you regularly updating content and posting news you’ll be able to get an idea of what works and what doesn’t – Did a new service that you announced cause a spike in traffic and sales on your site? This will allow you to shape your future content to what your visitors want to read. Adding some additional content to your site could attract an entirely different type of customer to your website that you wouldn’t have otherwise expected. If you never add new information you’ll never know!
You don’t need to pour hundreds of extra hours into maintaining your website. All you need to do is set a regular schedule to spend some time checking over your site. This could be as little as submitting a new news or blog post once per month (If you are able to do more, then great! But remember the information also needs to be useful to your audience. Don’t update more just for the sake of it), and glancing over other pages on your site to ensure that the information is still accurate. Just be sure to keep your updates as consistent as possible and don’t let your site fall into disrepair.
In the past i have worked for a leading IT Solutions & Managed service provider in Rotherham dealing with a range of IT platforms, such as - on site field engineering and remote support, dealing with all types of servers such as Virtual & Physical, Hyper–V, VMware, Windows server 2012 R2, SBS - Small Business Server 2008 2011, SQL, Terminal, Exchange, Active Directory, Group Policy, TCP, IP, DNS, DHCP, VPN, RDP, hybrid & cloud, Office 365 and managed security solutions such as Antivirus and Spam filtering.
Prior to this, I worked for Wickersley School & Sports College as the Lead IT & Network Technician and also supporting local primary schools with IT Support and engineering visits & Project Management, while also running my own company AJR Solutions, providing IT & Creative Solutions.
I’m very creative and have a huge passion for design and love how design can have a massive impact on a business image, presence and value also visit -
www.thelogocreative.co.uk | www.ajr-designs.co.uk | www.rotherhamwebdesign.co.uk
Also part of the AJR Solutions Group of businesses.